


Fuck the Ten-year Plan

by maccabird_23



Series: Fuck the Ten-year Plan [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, WTF, When the Hawks lose I write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-18
Updated: 2013-10-18
Packaged: 2017-12-29 18:24:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1008583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maccabird_23/pseuds/maccabird_23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First overall pick, two Cups, a Calder, a Conn Smythe, a silver medal and a Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime seems like a pretty impressive résumé for the first playing NHL'er to come out as gay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fuck the Ten-year Plan

Kane could blame it on getting his bell rung. Two hundred and five pounds of angry defenseman cramming your skull straight into the boards is nothing to laugh at. But the question itself is what took him off guard. The regular circle jerk of questions from reporters eased him into a comfortable sense of security. He answered back with sound bites about getting more goals to the net and playing a simpler game with the same ease that he tied his skates. Then straight out of left field came a question about Sochi, anti-gay laws in Russia and his lack of representation in You Can Play.

Kane gaped at the four or five cameras that surrounded him. He felt like a beached whale, gathering a crowd waiting for a disaster. He inhaled loudly, sweaty and tired but starting to feel a sudden burst of adrenaline. It was the type of rush that happened all at once sometimes at the end of the third, during OT and shootouts. It felt like he was seconds away from either letting his team down or pulling them up to a win.

Overthinking wasn't an option and was never his strong suit. He was running purely on instinct when he finally answered.

“I always meant to do a You Can Play video, but—” He paused as he watched two more cameraman enter the scrum. They were NBC and Fox which were huge—enormous huge—and that’s when he knew that it was go big or go home. “But I never felt like I earned it until now.” Patrick smiled lazily, knowing he was giving the cameras his best Kaner attitude, like he just dirty dangled the Hawks to a shootout win. “First overall pick, two Cups, a Calder, a Conn Smythe, a silver medal and a Stanley Cup-winning goal in overtime seems like a pretty impressive résumé for the first playing NHL'er to come out as gay.”

There was a thunderous silence in the room, loud in its enormity. The scrums to either of his sides seemed to pause almost apologetically. He looked over at Shaw to his left, now almost being completely ignored by his respective reporters. Kane didn't spare them a look, knowing they were trying to discretely enter his scrum. He just zeroed in on Andy who couldn't have given him a bigger shit-eating grin if he tried. Adding to his ridiculous face, Shaw gave him two thumbs up before mouthing, “Fucking right on.”

Turning to his right, he was met with Sharp's gaze, smiling softly and shaking his head. Sharp wasn't that much older than him, but Patrick couldn't help but feel like he got the stamp of approval from his dad.

Pat scanned the locker room trying to get an eye on Toews, wondering if his boyfriend would have a similar reaction, or if his head possibly exploded by Kane doing something that didn't fit into their ten-year plan. Patrick spent a few seconds worrying that he might have fucked up horribly before rolling his eyes and thinking, “Fuck the ten-year plan. We're fucking Stanley Cup winners!”

He didn't have much time to think anyway, as there was a hoard of reporters shoving microphones and recorders in his face, booming questions off him. Kane could barely decipher any individual question as the reporters were yelling over each other.

“Kane? Do you think that this might affect your eligibility for the Sochi Olympics?”

Kane bit his lip, not knowing specifically the rules or regulations of Russia's laws or the Olympics. But before he could answer, a Hawks PR guy—Kane thought his name was Todd or Michael— came over and said, “The sexuality of any player by the rules of IOC should never affect their eligibility, no matter what the laws of the housing happen to be.”

“Patrick? Do you worry that being openly gay will affect how other teams or players treat you during games?”

“Most of the guys I know on other teams are the nicest, most accepting guys I met. You know, your regular Canadians.” Kane paused, letting a few reporters laugh before he continued, “But during a game, a good player is gonna chirp you and try to get under your skin using whatever he can. But I got a tough skin. It comes with being a small guy.”

“But what about the players who are not as accepting? Do you think they might try to come at you through the media or on the ice?”

Patrick stopped, biting his lip while he thought about players like Pavel Datsyuk and Shane Doan. “I know there are some players who might not agree with my sexuality, but most of them would probably not go out of their way to say anything to the media. And when it comes to the game, if they want to put some extra pressure on me or do something dirty that's fine cause they'd have to catch me first.”

There was a pause, some of the reporters typing on their phones, probably trying to get that sound bite on Twitter before any other journalist.

“What about your teammates? Were you out to them? Do you think you have their full support?”

Patrick bit back a laugh, wishing that he could fully explain how ridiculous that question was, but it didn't really seem like the right time to mention how Sharp, Seabs and Keith spent the better part of their rookie year getting him and Jonny together. But in the end, he didn't have to answer anyway because a booming voice sounded from the back of the scrum as reporters made way for Toews to sit next to Patrick.

“This team has always been clutch when we needed them to be,” Jonny started, staring holes into the reporters in front of them. “On and off the ice these guys have always had mine and Patrick's back.”

There was a labored silence, reporters about to ask something but stopping, none of them having the balls to ask Toews the question that they truly wanted to ask.

  
It gave Jonny enough time to give Kane his usual razor blade smirk before continuing, “Third Overall Pick, fifth youngest NHL Captain, two Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe, an Olympic Gold Medal, a World Championship Gold Medal and a Selke: not a bad record for the second playing NHL player to come out as gay.”

After that, the entire room disrupted into chaos, shouts and scrambles to get closer to Kane and Toews. More PR seemed to appear out of thin air as they wrangled reporters back.

For the spare moment, Pat looked at Jonny, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry about the ten-year plan.”

Toews swung an arm around Kane's shoulder, nearly blinding both of them as flash after flash went off. Jonny gave a shrug, “Fuck the ten-year plan. We're Stanley Cup champions. We're in love and we're probably on our way to becoming legends.”

Kane grinned, watching as only a few respectable news outlets were let through. “Legends? Hope that means our statues will be bigger than Hull and Mikita's.”


End file.
